Chapter Five: Setting---Under Ravina
Boulevard 9:40 pmThe small doorway in the wall of the motel led
down into a brick-lined sewer tunnel that was dark and musty smelling.
Wesley stepped carefully, boots crunching over broken bones. The smell of
decay was strong and he paused, bending and nudging a soft lump.

"Dead rat." He commented to Gunn, who had
stooped behind, him peering into the darkness at the object on the ground.

"Yuck." Gunn commented, prodding Wesley in the back with his thumb. The
Englishman stood and shifted his weapons in his hand before starting off
again. They had walked a few steps when suddenly the sounds of voices were
heard, distant, but echoing clearly off the rounded sewer walls.

"Come on!" Wesley said, bursting into a run, Charles on his heels. About
halfway there, he heard a familiar voice and nearly stopped in his tracks.
She was here. Dammit. He slowed down and
motioned for Gunn to do the same. Together they crept along the sewer
tunnel to the brighter end before them.

"What do you know about me?" Shivers ran up Wes's spine as he heard the
deep challenge in Faith's voice and he spat in fury. No backup, in a blind
tunnel against Cordelia and Angelus? What was
she thinking? When he got a-hold of her he'd....what? He wasn't her
Watcher anymore and hadn't been in a long, long time.

"More than you'd guess, Faith. I know about that darkness in you; the one
you're trying to fight."

"Fuck. Cordelia."
Gunn muttered in a rough whisper, eyes wide. Wesley shushed him with
violent eyes and turned back to listening. His blood ran cold when he
heard Cordelia continue.

"I could help you with it....purge it out....or make it scream and you
along with it."

Light suddenly flooded the tunnel and the two men hiding in its previously
impregnable darkness hid their eyes from the brightness. Wesley knew what
and whom was causing it and he cursed again,
realizing the danger Faith was in.

Blinded, he ran the short length of the tunnel and jumped into the lighted
room at the end. He hit the first thing he found and realized it was
Faith. Breath whooshed out of her lungs as they collided and he saw blood
smeared across her neck. For one fleeting moment their eyes met and a
small smile quirked the corners of her full lips.

And then the light dimmed in her brown eyes and she passed out, slumped
against the damp brick beneath him.

"Jesus Wesley. I know you're desperate, but dry-humping an unconscious
Faith? Now that is just sick." Wesley bristled at the sound of the voice
and quickly rolled off Faith's fallen form. Her blood was thick on his
hands and he grimaced as he looked down at her and the vicious wound on
her neck. Pain laced across his heart and he balled his bloodied fists,
his eyes turned right toward Angelus.

"How long has it been, Angelus?"

Angelus looked pensive for a moment, glittering yellow eyes flitting from
side to side as he searched his memory. "A year.
Gunn's wedding, I believe. That was a blast, let me tell you."

"You would think that, wouldn't you?" Wesley spat, eyebrow arching and
knuckles cracking under the force of his anger.

"Hey, you should've invited us in the first place. By the way, how's
Lorne's eye?" Angelus smiled toothily and sidled up next to
Cordelia, who was scowling at Wesley, her arms
crossed over her chest. Wesley knew that look and felt the hair on the
back of his neck bristle.

"Enough with the chit-chat." Wesley clipped,
quite tired of the two of them. On cue, Gunn burst into the room, sword
flashing and his eyes intense.

Angelus whirled and caught the tall black man in the neck with the heel of
his boot. Then he flipped around and caught Wesley on the backswing with
his fist. Another kick sent Gunn toppling and a follow-up punch slammed
Wes into the brick tiles. As Wesley reeled from the blow; he had to give
the vampire credit. He was damned good. But Wesley had other things up his
sleeve.

"Flamis!" Wesley
shouted through a mouthful of blood.

Cordelia, who had taken a step toward Faith's
unconscious form, was suddenly caught in a whirlwind of blue fire that
licked at her face and left wet looking scorch marks on her skin. Her
scream of rage was high-pitched and pain-filled.

And then, the next second, her skin glowed, shining like a star and
dissipating the mystical flames that surrounded her. The effort obviously
cost her though, and her hazel eyes rolled up in her head.

She collapsed next to Faith, dark hair scorched and blackened as it lay
across her bright red skin.

"You're going to pay for that, Pryce." Angelus growled low in his throat,
leaping at the taller man, hands curled into claws. Wesley was slammed
against the wall with a bone jarring force.

"As I recall, Angel was always slinging that particular threat around too.
He was as ineffectual as you are." Wesley said,
voice full of gravel and glass. He was pushing it and he knew it. His eyes
flicked to Gunn, who was climbing to his knees, neck already bruised a
purple so dark it looked black.

"Hey, Angelus? Lose something?" Gunn called,
picking Cordelia up by her hair and slapping
her face with his palm. Angelus turned and saw what he had in his hands.

"Put her down, motherfucker." Wesley was surprised to see fear in the
golden eyes so close to his own. Angelus was afraid....for someone else?
That was new.

"Umm...no." Gunn smiled and turned the limp
Cordelia in his arms and then slapped her full
in the face hard enough to split her lip. "That's for ruining my wedding."
He hit her again. "And that's for fucking up my family in the first
place."

"How about you put Wesley down and then we can fight this out like men?
Huh?" Gunn offered, gently slapping at Cordelia's
face with an upbeat rhythm.

"Fine." Angelus said, spinning Wesley in his
grip and throwing him at Gunn. Wesley stumbled and bit down on his tongue
as he hit the demon and his friend. Sprawled in a heap, he reached for
Gunn's forgotten sword and brought it up in time to catch Angelus on the
arm, feeling the point go to the bone. The vampire grunted and rolled,
scooping up Cordelia's burned form and then
leaping to his feet again.

He opened his mouth to speak and suddenly a booted foot was brought up
into his back, throwing him into the tunnel along with
Cordelia. Wesley saw a small stake buried
between the folds of Angelus's leather duster,
too small to reach the heart, but large enough to cause him pain.

"Get the fuck out of here Angelus." Faith snarled,
her eyes clouded with pain, but on her feet. Wesley was impressed. Angelus
looked from Gunn and Wesley to Faith and back again.

"See you all real soon. We'll do lunch." And with a sneer, he was gone,
disappearing into the darkness with Cordelia
slung over his shoulder. Faith sighed in relief and sank down onto the
bricks again.

Gunn struggled to get up, but Wesley stopped him with a hand on his wrist.
"No. Let them go."

"Why?" Gunn snapped, pushing Wesley off his
legs and standing, wincing as his throat throbbed in time to his
heartbeat.

"Because....I....just let them." Wesley said
defeatedly, biting down on his lower lip. Gunn looked him full in
the face and sighed.

"You still think they can be saved, don't you?"

"I don't know what I think, but for now I think we should just---"

"Let them go so that they can kill innocent people, all because you think
that everything can be put back together if you got Connor back? Fuck,
Wes....it's a pipe dream and you know it. Give it up bro."

"Charles..."

"Don't Charles me. I'm tired of it. We should have done it long ago, back
when we knew he'd lost his soul. Maybe then Cordelia
wouldn't have done what she did!"

"It's not Cordelia's fault. What happened, it
was--"

"Her fault. She's the one who---"

"Jesus, keep it down, some of us are trying to bleed to death over here."
A husky female voice cut through their argument. Wesley started, suddenly
remembered their damsel in distress who was anything but. He turned toward
her and bent, holding out a hand to her. After a second of staring at it,
she took it, her pale digits wrapping around his wrist and using him to
help herself to her feet.

"Faith...I....are you alright?" Wesley was unsure of what to say, and he
felt a chill wrap around his spine as he looked at the deep bite marks on
her neck. His fingertips gingerly touched the warm, abused tissue around
the ripped wounds. Faith's gaze flickered to his as she felt his touch,
eyes haunted and far away.

"Five by five." But she didn't look it as she
swayed, leaning against him with all her weight.

"Charles?" Gunn stepped forward and looped one arm around her waist,
supporting her weight on one side as Wesley did the same on the other
side.

Together, they walked out of the sewer.

*****

Setting---The Hyperion Hotel, the next day

It was quiet, which was a miracle, at least in Lorne's opinion. In his
world, there was always noise and pain, blood and hypodermics, and a pair
of brown eyes that were slowing driving him insane as she slipped into
uncontrollable madness.

His heart was heavy, his arms the same as he
curled up around Fred's shivering form like he could protect her from the
Powers with just his presence. He'd been by her side long enough to know
that wasn't true, but he still liked to fool himself into thinking that he
was strong enough for her.

His one good eye roved around the room, reading little passages she
scratched onto the walls.

Can't listen, can't listen, can't listen and formulas were written in
thick black marker and others were scratched into the paint by a pair of
desperate hands. She thought sometimes that if she could just write it
down, it wouldn't all be in her head.

Lorne knew better.

In times like this, he let his mind drift into the past, when sense,
however nonlinear it was, had flooded her eyes. Back
before the visions, before hell had rained down on them.

~*~

Setting---Fall 2002, the past

"Cordelia! Stop! Please!" Lorne pleaded,
reaching for the demoness's arm.
Cordelia turned her head in his direction,
skin aglow, short blonde hair falling in pale slashes against her cheek.

"I have to try Lorne." Her voice was mechanical, her aura black. Lorne
knew this was bad, very bad.

"And if the Gatekeeper kills you, or worse?" He'd insisted as Fred and
Gunn looked on, hugging each other tight in a way that made him almost
jealous. They didn't know what to say to stop this, but they were counting
on Lorne to know. Why him? He was just an aura-reader, not even part of
the group, and yet the duty had fallen on his shoulders to stop the
heart-broken Seer.

"I don't care! I have to take the chance, Lorne. Death would be better
than living without Angel. I can't do this anymore..."
Cordelia's voice wavered as she gulped back
unshed tears. The glow continued, filling the room with light.

"There are other ways...we can get back his soul!"
Lorne, red eyes intense as he tried and failed to reach out for her aura,
to read it fully and see what she'd been keeping from him. Only now
could he sense it. How had he missed something so jarringly obvious?

"But Willow's dead....she's the one who knew how! Oh God...Buffy...they're
all dead..."

"But we're not. We can stop this...we just need to think of a plan. We
don't need the Gatekeeper for this. It's practically suicide, pixie cat."
Lorne plucked at the strings of her soul and found that horrified part of
her that she'd locked away from all prying eyes, including his.
And especially hers.

"I deserve it. It's all my fault!"

"Your fault?" Gunn spoke up, disengaging himself from Fred's grip and
stepping forward. His eyes burned into Cordelia's,
unblinking despite the brightness she threw at him.

"I...we...oh god...I didn't want to remember...."
Cordelia turned to Lorne and he nodded. She knew he knew and she
let the tears roll down her cheeks. "I tried so hard to forget..."

"You slept with him and he lost his soul. That's how it happened, didn't
it?" Fred's voice was soft and full of acceptance, as if she was finally
letting herself believe it. She'd guessed it long ago. Gunn let a mad hiss
of air.

"It's all my fault. I killed Angel." Her lip
trembled and a solitary tear trailed its way down her cheeks.

"He's not dead sweetie. Not yet. But you will be if you do this. There's
another way." Lorne said softly, once again reaching for
Cordelia. She stepped away from his touch like
his green skin was acidic.

"Not for me there isn't." And with that she turned and raised her hands,
shouting to the vast ceiling of the hotel the words to call the
Gatekeeper.

And then, time stood still. For how long, no one but
Cordelia knew.

When it resumed, Lorne blinked to see the Gatekeeper's terrible visage
hovering before them all. Cordelia had her
eyes closed and tears were streaming down her cheeks. She looked exhausted
and the edges of her white shirt were blackened. What had she just done?

"Mine." The Gatekeeper rumbled before any of them could move, one large,
gnarled and diaphanous hand reaching out and burying itself in
Cordelia's chest. The Seer screamed out, her
head going back and her body spasming, lifting
off the ground a foot before it was slammed back down. The Gatekeeper
withdrew its hand and Lorne saw something bright and glowing in his palm.

His heart stopped in his chest as he realized what it was.

"The price has been paid." The Gatekeeper's water-filled voice sounded and
then he disappeared in a cloud of angry smoke.

The remnants of Angel Investigations stood there for a moment, staring at
Cordelia. Fred was the first to break the
silence, running over to Cordy and falling to
her knees. She cradled the Seer's blonde head in her lap and looked
beseechingly up at Gunn and Lorne when her eyes refused to open.

"What happened?"

And then, it did happen, something horrible and haunting.

Light filled the room, but it wasn't coming from
Cordelia. No, this light defied a source; it was all-encompassing
and absolute. And out of the depths of that white hell there came a tall,
strong, armored figure with kind red eyes and a grim smile.

"Who...?" Someone said; Lorne wasn't sure who.

"She's unworthy of her gift." The demon said, holding out his hand over
Cordelia. Fred's eyes widened as she looked
into the demon's eyes. "Damn. And I really liked her too."

And suddenly, the world tilted and Fred was screaming,
her mouth wide, Cordelia's eyes fluttering
open and her mouth also opening. A blue orb passed her lips, stealing her
breath and flying into Fred's mouth.

The Texan kept screaming and screaming and screaming as
Cordelia stared in horror....and
then....nothing. Nothing but cool rage.

"Fuck you Skip! I've done everything They asked
of me! Fuck everything!" Cordelia growled,
floating to her feet as if she were hooked to wires. And with that, she
ran out of the hotel and didn't look back.

Lorne's heart sunk. They'd taken it from her and now...now she was empty
inside. Nothing but that rage against the world for taking the only things
she'd ever loved.

Her visions, her mission, her soul and her Angel

~*~

Setting---2005, the present

Lorne tore himself out of the past and swiped at his eyes, realizing he
was crying. Beside him, Fred stirred and he kissed her cheek gingerly. He
often wondered, if things hadn't gone so wrong, where they'd all be. But
Lorne wasn't a demon who dwelled and he sat up, tucking the blankets
around Fred's thin shoulders.

Walking downstairs, he spotted Anne in the lobby, her hand spread over her
belly and a cell phone in her hands. She hung up just as he reached the
bottom step.

"What's the haps? Are they okay?" Anne looked
visibly relieved as she answered, but there was a worried glint in her
eyes.